HMS BLACK PRINCE
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The first ironclad war ship built for the Royal Navy was launched at Robert Napier's Govan yard in 1861.
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HMS Black Prince was constructed in response to France building the world's first ironclad, Gloire, two years before.
At 9250 tonnes, the Black Prince was a much larger ship than Gloire and her sister ship Couronne.
The Black Prince was the most important war ship ever built by Robert Napier, the grandfather of Clyde shipbuilding, but it also destroyed his career.
Napier had seriously underestimated the cost of her construction and as a result he put his yard in severe financial straits for many years to come.
Sadly, the Black Prince had a very uneventful career.
Her only voyage of note was in 1878 when she became the largest masted battleship to cross the Atlantic.
She spent much of the rest of her life with the Fleet Reserve in Plymouth and was scrapped in 1923.
